Family goal setting
Collaborative partnership-building
Individualized family partnership agreements
Accessing community services and resources
Emergency or crisis assistance
Appropriate interventions
Follow-up...services...meet families expectations
Services to pregnant women
Parent involvement in health, nutrition, and mental health
Parent involvement in community advocacy
Parent involvement in home visits
[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2005]
[CITE: 45CFR1304.40]
[Page 129-132]
TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
CHAPTER XIII--OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PART 1304_PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR THE OPERATION OF HEAD START PROGRAMS BY GRANTEE AND DELEGATE AGENCIES--Table of Contents
Subpart C_Family and Community Partnerships
Sec. 1304.40 Family partnerships.
(a) Family goal setting.
(1) Grantee and delegate agencies must engage in a process of collaborative partnership-building with parents to establish mutual trust and to identify family goals, strengths, and necessary services and other supports. This process must be initiated as early after enrollment as possible and it must take into consideration each family's readiness and willingness to participate in the process.
(2) As part of this ongoing partnership, grantee and delegate agencies must offer parents opportunities to develop and implement individualized family partnership agreements that describe family goals, responsibilities, timetables and strategies for achieving these goals as well as progress in achieving them. In home-based program options, this agreement must include the above information as well as the specific roles of parents in home visits and group socialization activities (see 45 CFR 1306.33(b)).
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(b) Accessing community services and resources.
(1) Grantee and delegate agencies must work collaboratively with all participating parents to identify and continually access, either directly or through referrals, services and resources that are responsive to each family's interests and goals, including:
(i) Emergency or crisis assistance in areas such as food, housing, clothing, and transportation;
(ii) Education and other appropriate interventions, including opportunities for parents to participate in counseling programs or to receive information on mental health issues that place families at risk, such as substance abuse, child abuse and neglect, and domestic violence; and
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(2) Grantee and delegate agencies must follow-up with each family to determine whether the kind, quality, and timeliness of the services received through referrals met the families' expectations and circumstances.
(c) Services to pregnant women who are enrolled in programs serving pregnant women, infants, and toddlers.
(1) Early Head Start grantee and delegate agencies must assist pregnant women to access comprehensive prenatal and postpartum care, through referrals, immediately after enrollment in the program. This care must include:
(i) Early and continuing risk assessments, which include an assessment of nutritional status as well as nutrition counseling and food assistance, if necessary;
(ii) Health promotion and treatment, including medical and dental examinations on a schedule deemed appropriate by the attending health care providers as early in the pregnancy as possible; and
(iii) Mental health interventions and follow-up, including substance abuse prevention and treatment services, as needed.
(2) Grantee and delegate agencies must provide pregnant women and other family members, as appropriate, with prenatal education on fetal development (including risks from smoking and alcohol), labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery (including maternal depression).
(3) Grantee and delegate agencies must provide information on the benefits of breast feeding to all pregnant and nursing mothers. For those who choose to breast feed in center-based programs, arrangements must be provided as necessary.
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(f) Parent involvement in health, nutrition, and mental health education.
(1) Grantee and delegate agencies must provide medical, dental, nutrition, and mental health education programs for program staff, parents, and families.
(2) Grantee and delegate agencies must ensure that, at a minimum, the medical and dental health education program:
(i) Assists parents in understanding how to enroll and participate in a system of ongoing family health care.
(ii) Encourages parents to become active partners in their children's medical and dental health care process and to accompany their child to medical and dental examinations and appointments; and
(iii) Provides parents with the opportunity to learn the principles of preventive medical and dental health, emergency first-aid, occupational and environmental hazards, and safety practices for use in the classroom and in the home. In addition to information on general topics (e.g., maternal and child health and the prevention of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), information specific to the health needs of individual children must also be made available to the extent possible.
(3) Grantee and delegate agencies must ensure that the nutrition education program includes, at a minimum:
(i) Nutrition education in the selection and preparation of foods to meet family needs and in the management of food budgets; and
(ii) Parent discussions with program staff about the nutritional status of their child.
(4) Grantee and delegate agencies must ensure that the mental health education program provides, at a minimum (see 45 CFR 1304.24 for issues related to mental health education):
(i) A variety of group opportunities for parents and program staff to identify and discuss issues related to child mental health;
(ii) Individual opportunities for parents to discuss mental health issues related to their child and family with program staff; and
(iii) The active involvement of parents in planning and implementing any mental health interventions for their children.
(g) Parent involvement in community advocacy.
(1) Grantee and delegate agencies must:
(i) Support and encourage parents to influence the character and goals of community services in order to make them more responsive to their interests and needs; and
(ii) Establish procedures to provide families with comprehensive information about community resources (see 45 CFR 1304.41(a)(2) for additional requirements).
(2) Parents must be provided regular opportunities to work together, and with other community members, on activities that they have helped develop and in which they have expressed an interest.
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(i) Parent involvement in home visits.
(1) Grantee and delegate agencies must not require that parents permit home visits as a condition of the child's participation in Early Head Start or Head Start center-based program options. Every effort must be made to explain the advantages of home visits to the parents.
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(6) Grantee and delegate agencies serving infants and toddlers must arrange for health staff to visit each newborn within two weeks after the infant's birth to ensure the well-being of both the mother and the child.
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